Sanitary shoe cover

ABSTRACT

A sanitary and protective covering for shoes constructed from foldable material with its edges attached together to form a covering. An opening is provided in the covering for the leg of the wearer and an elastic band is attached around the periphery of the opening to close the opening around the leg. A second elastic band is attached to the seam in the sole of the covering to conform the covering to the foot and retain the covering resiliently on the foot. A conducting tape is attached to the sole of the covering and extends a sufficient distance from the covering to allow its insertion into the sock of the wearer.

United States Patent Tims et al.

[ 1 Mar. 7, 1972 [54] SANITARY SHOE COVER [72] Inventors: Jerry L. Tims;Vance M. Hubbard, both of 21 Appl. No.: 114,260

[52] US. CL ..3l7/2 B, 36/9 [51] Int. Cl. ..A6ln1/l4 [58] Field ofSearch..317/2 R, 2 B; 36/2.5 B, 7.5, 36/10, 9

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,494,653 5/ 1 924 Walters..36/2 2,799,951 7/ 1957 Pogers ..36/7.1 3 ,084,459 4/1963 Colman..36/7.1 3,268,767 8/1966 Saraceni et al. ..3 17/2 3,296,490 1/1967Price ..3 l7/2 3,308,562 3/1967 Zimmon .317/2 3,337,770 8/1967 Saraceniet a1. ..317/2 3,359,456 12/1967 De Woskin ....3 17/2 3,359,658 12/1967Price ..36/7.1

3,399,470 9/1968 Schofield .,.....36/7.1

3,422,550 l/l969 Robinson ....36/7.l

3,564,335 2/1971 Siegel ..3l7/2 3,296,489 l/ 1967 Ceraldi ..3 1 7/2 B2,252,315 8/1941 Doree ..36/2.5 B

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 575 ,245 2/1946 Great Britain .t...36/10 Primary Examiner-William H. Beha, Jr. Assistant Examinerl-larryE. Moose, Jr. Attorney-Kenneth R. Glaser and John F. Booth [5 7]ABSTRACT A sanitary and protective covering for shoes constructed fromfoldable material with its edges attached together to form a covering.An opening is provided in the covering for the leg of the wearer and anelastic band is attached around the periphery of the opening to closethe opening around the leg. A second elastic band is attached to thescam in the sole of the covering to conform the covering to the foot andretain the covering resiliently on the foot. A conducting tape isattached to the sole of the covering and extends a sufficient distancefrom the covering to allow its insertion into the sock of the wearer.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Patented March 7, 19 72 I 3,648,109

INVENTOR JERRY L. TIMS P16. 3 VANCE N. HUBBARD A TTORNE Y SANITARY SHOECOVER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates toimprovements in sanitary protective coverings for shoes and the like andmore particularly to a new and improved shoe covering which willaccommodate any shoe or foot size and will close the opening of thecovering around the leg of the wearer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Shoe coverings of the type of the presentinvention have particular application in sterile rooms in hospitals andlike institutions to satisfy need in such establishments for coveringthe shoes of attendants to prevent dust on the shoes from contaminatingthe atmosphere of the room. The invention further has application inareas requiring patient isolation to prevent contamination of shoes andcross-contamination of patients.

Shoe coverings are also used in cast rooms where plaster of paris castsare applied and where table drippings are likely to fall onto the shoesof the persons working near the table and permanently harm the shoes.Likewise, shoe coverings may have further applications in othercommercial establishments where shoe coverings are desirable andnecessary.

In the field of manufacture of these shoe coverings, it has been ageneral practice to employ shoe coverings of the slipper or boot shapewhich are more or less conventional in the shape of the heel and toeportions. Although such devices have served the purpose, they have notproved entirely satisfactory under all conditions of service for thereasons that considerable difficulty has been experienced in providing asnug fit to a variety of shoe and foot sizes. One method of solving thisproblem has been to provide a plurality of different sizes of shoecoverings to accommodate the various shoe sizes.

Other attempts to solve this problem have involved complex shoe coveringstructures which can be adjusted or folded to fit various shoe sizes,but these solutions are complicated and expensive to manufacture and areuncomfortable to the wearer and difficult to install over the shoe.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The general purpose of the present invention isto provide a new and improved sanitary and protective covering for shoeswhich will fit a large variety of shoe or foot sizes and yet is simpleand inexpensive to manufacture and easy to attach to the foot of thewearer and even provide a means for preventing the buildup of staticelectricity in the body of the wearer. To attain this, the presentinvention contemplates the use of a unique sanitary shoe coveringconfiguration whereby the covering will stretch to fit a large varietyof shoe or foot sizes due to an elastic portion in the sole thereof.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An objectof this invention is the provision ofa sanitary and protective covering for shoes.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sanitary and protectivecovering for shoes which will fit various shoe and foot sizes.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a sanitary andprotective covering for shoes which will prevent static electricitybuildup in the body of the wearer.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedsanitary and protective covering for shoes which is simple andinexpensive to manufacture and assemble.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of a newand improved sanitary and protective covering for shoes which is quickand easy to apply and fasten to the shoe.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this inventionwill be readily appreciated by those or ordinary skill in the art as thesame becomes better understood by reference to the following detaileddescription when considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

LII

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective viewof the new and improved sanitary and protective covering attached over ashoe, the foot of the wearer shown in phantom;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation view of the device showing the heel portion;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the new and improved sanitary andprotective covering;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view rotated from the view of FIG. 1 showing thesole portion of the new and improved sanitary and protective covering;

FIG. 5 shows a section of the device taken on line 55 of FIG. 1 lookingin the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 6 shows a section of the device taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 1looking in the direction of the arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawingswherein like referenced characters designate like or corresponding partsthroughout the several views, there is shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, whichillustrate a preferred embodiment, a new and improved sanitary andprotective covering for shoes generally designated 11. As can be seen,this covering fits over the shoe of the wearer and provides a sanitaryand noncontaminating covering therefor which is simple and inexpensivein construction. The body of this covering 11 is constructed with twohalves l2 and 14 which can be cut in a single piece. These halves can beformed from a plurality of materials such as nonwoven papers andyam-reinforced cellulose, cloth, light canvas, muslin, plastic or thelike. The covering could also be constructed from heat scalablematerials which could be attached together by utilizing heat andpressure as is well known in the art. The materials utilized could besupplied from a manufacturer in webs or rolls and cut by use of a dieinto one piece having identical halves l2 and 14 which are then joinedtogether.

Once the body has been cut to shape, it can be sewn or adhered togetherat its edges along a continuous seam which includes a toe seam portion18, sole seam portion 24, and heel seam portion 16, as can be viewedinFIGS. 1,4 and 2, respectively. The heel seam portion 16 extends in anupward direction from the sole seam portion 24 and stops short ofextending completely up the heel of the covering 11, as illustrated inFIG. 2. It is to be understood, of course, that the heel seam portioncould also extend completely up the heel. The toe seam 18 extends fromthe sole seam portion 24 in an upward direction and ends adjacent anopening 20. This opening 20 is provided to allow the wearer to inserthis foot or shoe into the covering 11 as shown in FIG. 1.

The sole seam portion 24 of the covering 11 has a length of groundingtape 26 extending along a portion of the length of this seam (FIG. 4),the tape being sewn between the two edges of the halves 12 and 14. Thisgrounding tape 26 can be of any suitable conductive material and is ofsuch a length to extend up into the interior 40 of the covering andthereafter through the opening 20 where it can be inserted into the sockof the wearer as shown in FIG. 1 to provide a suitable ground to preventstatic electricity buildup in the wearer.

As a particular feature of the invention, a strip of elastic material 28is secured along a major portion of the length of the seam joining theportions 12 and 14 so as to pull the heel and toe portions of thecovering 11 toward each other, thus causing the covering 11 to conformto any foot or shoe size and retain the covering on the foot.Specifically, and as a preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, theelastic strip 28 is attached to the seam within the interior portion 40of the covering and extends from the end of the toe seam portion 18along the entire length of the sole seam portion 24, and thereafteralong the heel seam portion 16. This elastic strip 28 will cause theflexible material to incrementally gather and fold along the length ofthe strip 28 to conform the covering to the shoe or foot as shown inFIGS. 3 and 4.

As shown in the sectional view illustrated in FIG. 6, a length ofelastic material 22 is attached around the peripheral edge of theopening 20. This elastic material 22 holds the edge of the opening firmagainst the leg of the wearer to additionally retain the covering on thefoot.

It is to be understood, of course, that the foregoing disclosure relatesto only a preferred embodiment of the invention and that numerousmodifications or alterations may be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appendedclaims.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

l. A covering for protecting and preventing contamination of aconventional shoe worn by an individual, said covering having heel, toeand sole portions, comprising:

a body of flexible and foldable material so constructed to form a pocketadapted for receiving the heel and toe portions of the conventionalshoe, said pocket having an opening for allowing insertion of the shoethrough the opening, said pocket being formed by securing said flexiblefoldable material together, said pocket having a seam centrally locatedin the sole extending along and between said heel and toe portions;

first resilient material means secured along a substantial portion ofthe length of the sole portion of the covering for resiliently urgingthe heel and toe portions thereof in a direction toward each other forproviding an incremental gathering of said flexible material along thelength of said sole portion to conform the covering to the shoe andretain said covering on the shoe, said first resilient material beingaffixed at said seam centrally located in said sole; and

grounding means for preventing buildup of static electricity on saidindividual, said grounding means comprising a length of foldableconducting tape secured along the sole portion of the covering, saidconductor tape being affixed at said seam centrally located insaid sole.

2. The covering as defined in claim 1 further including second resilientmaterial means secured around the periphery of said opening for holdingthe periphery of said opening against the upper portion of the shoe andthe leg of the individual.

3. A covering as defined in claim 1 wherein said centrally located seamextends continuously around said heel, toe and sole portions of saidbody and wherein said conducting tape is sewn along the sole portion ofsaid continuous seam.

1. A covering for protecting and preventing contamination of aconventional shoe worn by an individual, said covering having heel, toeand sole portions, comprising: a body of flexible and foldable materialso constructed to form a pocket adapted for receiving the heel and toeportions of the conventional shoe, said pocket having an opening forallowing insertion of the shoe through the opening, said pocket beingformed by securing said flexible foldable material together, said pockethaving a seam centrally located in the sole extending along and betweensaid heel and toe portions; first resilient material means secured alonga substantial portion of the length of the sole portion of the coveringfor resiliently urging the heel and toe portions thereof in a directiontoward each other for providing an incremental gathering of saidflexible material along the length of said sole portion to conform thecovering to the shoe and retain said covering on the shoe, said firstresilient material being affixed at said seam centrally located in saidsole; and grounding means for preventing buildup of static electricityon said individual, said grounding means comprising a length of foldableconducting tape secured along the sole portion of the covering, saidconductor tape being affixed at said seam centrally located in saidsole.
 2. The covering as defined in claim 1 further including secondresilient material means secured around the periphery of said openingfor holding the periphery of said opening against the upper portion ofthe shoe and the leg of the individual.
 3. A covering as defined inclaim 1 wherein said centrally located seam extends continuously aroundsaid heel, toe and sole portions of said body and wherein saidconducting tape is sewn along the sole portion of said continuous seam.